Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I can assure the Deputies that I am absolutely committed to developing a balanced spread of employment throughout the country. It is encouraging to see that, for the first time, Tipperary has seen employment growth across our agencies - IDA, Enterprise Ireland and the local enterprises offices - and 260 additional people are at work in Tipperary in 2014 as a result of their efforts. That is a start, and we need to build on that.

In terms of unemployment, it has come down by close to 3,000 in Tipperary. That is in sharp contrast to the previous period when 11,000 extra people became unemployed. We are making some progress. The decline in unemployment is around 17% in the county but I am very keen that more progress would be made, and that is the reason we have established the regional enterprise strategy. That gives the Deputies but also various stakeholders in the region an opportunity to become involved in developing proposals, and competitive calls are being made to assist people.

To respond to Deputy Healy, the provision of support for the development of a distillery is not about displacing work elsewhere. This is a valuable asset that this country needs. There is a strong resurgence of distilleries here. For 100 years not a single distillery had been opened, and now there are close to 25 either in planning or being opened. It is a significant opportunity to use native grown material to develop a strong branded product that is inherent to our country and, therefore, it is something worth promoting. It is disappointing to see jobs lost in any situation but I assure the Deputy that the grants provided to support a distillery is not to displace people elsewhere.

I thank Deputy Lowry for his encouragement. I assure him that my determination is to see a good outcome.

It was very disappointing when J&J pulled out of the business there. It was quite unexpected, it being such a significant player here. J&J is a tremendous investor in Ireland. It has disposed of this plant but I am hopeful we will be able to work on this.

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